Explosive audio emerges in Lewis Hamilton F1 controversy
Audio of a brief conversation between Red Bull and Australian FIA race director Michael Masi in a critical moment of the controversial F1 season decider last year has been highly criticised by fans of the sport.
The hashtag '#f1xed' began trending on Twitter after the exchange between Masi and Red Bull sporting director Jonathon Wheatley gained a substantially wider audience months after the Abu Dhabi finale in 2021.
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Max Verstappen won the championship for Red Bull after a late race safety car left him behind reigning champion and title rival Lewis Hamilton, with one lap left and boasting a significantly fresher set of tyres.
The timing of the safety car, combined with Masi's unconventional move to only let the five lapped cars separating Verstappen and Hamilton pass the safety car before it was called in, resulted in Verstappen overtaking Hamilton on the final lap for the race and championship victory.
The result remains subject to an official FIA investigation, with the governing body reportedly aware of the communication between Masi and Wheatley in the days after the race.
It wasn't until this week that the exchange attracted the attention of F1 fans.
Soon after the safety car was called to clear the debris from Nicholas Latifi's crashed Williams, Wheatley contacted Masi via radio to immediately call for the lapped cars between the leading two drivers to be cleared.
“Those lapped cars; you don’t need to let them go right the way around and catch up with the back of the pack," he said.
"You only need to let them go, and then we’ve got a motor race on our hands.”
Typically under the safety car rules, all lapped cars in the field should be allowed to pass the safety car and catch back up to the field before the race is restarted.
But with only a handful of laps left and the risk of the 2021 championship being won under the safety car, Masi took a course of action that has since been described as a 'freestyle' interpretation of FIA rules.
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After the race, a furious Mercedes team boss told Masi over the radio that 'this is not right', before later going on to submit a protest at the result.
Though that protest was ultimately withdrawn after the FIA launched its own investigation, the highly unusual events have resulted in Masi coming under renewed pressure after a series of controversial incidents throughout the season.
Though the audio of his exchange with Wheatley has been available for some time, former F1 driver and commentator said it was still a bad look for the sport.
“Of course it’s really uncomfortable, and a lot of people are unhappy," he told Sky Sports.
“And you don’t even have to be a Lewis Hamilton fan to think that forever he should be an eight-time world champion, because, for me, the really crucial regulation that wasn’t carried out was that the safety car should have come in at the end of the following lap.
“Hugely unacceptable. I met so many fans that were new to Formula 1 last year particularly, and fans in general, that were hugely upset by what happened.
“We cannot - and we know it’s going to change - have teams getting at the referee while he’s trying to make critical decisions with cars on the track and marshals and breakdown vehicles.”
The FIA is due reveal the outcome of the investigation next week, though Brundle added that he doubted Red Bull had actually done anything untoward.
Rather, he felt the race director should be allowed to go about their business without being hassled by teams over the radio during potentially critical moments of the race.
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